Actually, I'm kind of into wine (it helps that my father-in-law runs a highly regarded winery) and definitely into single malts. In my experience, while novices couldn't identify specifically what it was that they *liked* about a particular drink, they could always pick out the "better" one from the lesser one.
Of course, there is the UC Davis oenology department black cup test...where in, yes, double-blind tests experienced tasters scored 50% in distinguishing reds from whites. In another experiment, cheap and expensive wines were poured into different bottles. In a non-blind test, the expensive label wines (which were actually cheap) won the day. This is not a rumor; my brother-in-law went to school there. When it comes to audio, non-audiophile friends are often only mildly interested, if that much, in my systems. However, they could easily discern the difference between speakers, between movements in speaker position, DACs, etc. In a way, then, one could argue that testing by disinterested parties, while not conclusive, could be very interesting and could even help keep the community honest -- because these people don't come at the project with preconceptions. If you get trained musicians to do it, specifically, it would get very interesting. Why? Because these are people with far more ear training than any non-musician, and that includes audiophiles (quick: how many of you are able to identify and describe subtle key changes? Or perhaps tune a guitar or violin by ear?). Anyway, I digress. The point is that there is a great deal of snobbery and exclusivity in the audiophile community and that is not necessarily a good thing. Someone with a highly trained ear will outclass a non-musical audiophile any day of the week. PS, many, many, many excellent wines are sweet, fruity, and full-bodied. Many interesting and very fine cabernets (which are a rather commonplace wine and hardly the most interesting thing) are fruity. Tannic wines are a bit of a more tending toward unpleasant and many "dry" wines fall into that trap. rajacat;157808 Wrote: > I suspect that many people couldn't identify the various scotches in > your test. Indeed, the same could be said for the tasting of fine > wines, if fact, many prefer a cheap sweet wine to the best dry > Cabernet's. > > It follows that the appreciation of high end audio gear might be futile > for those whose ears might not be sensitive to the subtle nuances that > the best gear reveals. For example, not everyone can distinguish the > fine differences that are evident with tube rolling or changing > interconnects or etc.,etc. For many a boom box is all that is needed. > > Raja -- highdudgeon Relax. It's about the music. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ highdudgeon's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=2195 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=29025 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
